SEO, What a photographer needs to know

SEO, What a photographer needs to know

As photographers, we have a lot of technical terms we understand and we need to add SEO to it too. Simply said, SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is the process of optimizing your content in order to gain a better position in search engines like Google or Bing.

SEO is awesome for three reasons:
– Powerful Promotion tool
– Organic SEO is free
– You don’t need to be a techie

So, to increase your website ranking on Google’s results. Let’s get started on some of the best SEO tips for photographer’s website.

IDENTIFY KEYWORDS

The first rule to success is “keyword research”. Every client has search criteria and they use specific words or phrases to find your services online. Google’s algorithm focuses on specific keywords to understand if your website is relevant to the client’s queries. Using the right keywords in the right spots will leave you with a higher ranking.

How do you find what the right keywords are?

– put yourself in the customer’s shoes.
– brainstorm and list all the possible phrases you can think of.
– Edit your list to two main keywords and three additional ones.

Find where and how to place your keywords

– Place them correctly on your page, for instance on the home page, blogs, etc.
– Try to keep it natural by keeping not more than three keywords per page.
– Place them on your URL link.
– H1 tags. H1 tags represent the most important heading of your page.

USE TITLES & DESCRIPTIONS

Now, link the keywords into your metadata. What is metadata you ask? Well, look at the results from a Google search, The Big blue Lines are your “title” and the following black descriptive text is the “description”. This is carefully retrieved by the Google search bots. “Title” and “Description” are the metadata from your page.
Make sure all your pages have informative and diverse metadata. This way the bots won’t get confused.

For instance,
– When you insert keywords in your page names, try to make them appear at the beginning.
– Separate Different items by using the “|”, which is called the pipe character to make it visually appealing.
– Title length of 60 Characters and Description Length of 160 Characters, not longer.

BEAUTIFY YOUR URL

URL is a definite place where you can make a big difference. Let’s start by breaking down the URL.
Your website name and its extension (.com, .org etc.) together is the domain name (www.websitename.com). Everything that comes after the domain name is supported by categories and page names at the end (www.website.com/category/page-name).
Having your keyword in your domain name will give you extreme SEO benefits. Being clear about the supporting categories and page names will be extra beneficial
The best way going ahead is to keep your URL short and containing a clear description of your page content.

LET YOUR PICTURES SPEAK

Your photographs may speak for themselves, but your search engine doesn’t have the ability to understand it. You can help them do their job better by adding text that clearly describe the picture.
There is something called the “alternative text attribute”, to describe your image in one short line. It doesn’t show on the website, but bots read them carefully. Ensure you watch out for this invisible helper. For example, “wedding photo of a bride in Chennai temple”. But also remember, keeping it simple is important too. If you overfeed the bot you can sure it is going to have information indigestion!

EXPOSURE & BACKLINKS

Now that we’ve covered your SEO and content of your website, let’s discuss “backlinks”. Backlinks are the links that are listed on external websites or blogs that direct the viewer to your website. So how do we achieve this? Over time we grow to a stage where people will want to share your link on the web. But this is definitely a time taking process. However, some things can help

– The Social Buttons: Add relevant social buttons to all your content so that it becomes easy to share.
– Create ‘The List’: Put the subscribe button in and create a community of followers. Don’t underestimate what you are doing because you never know what the next big thing is. You’ll realize its value later.
– Have a social plan: Publish frequently on social media as it’s the number one place people look for news and art.

GO FOR LOCAL SEO

Local SEO? Yes, Local SEO means we make sure your website ranks for a location-based query. This is very essential for a photographer with a physical office or studio. Another add-on to local SEO is that you proactively add your business to Google Maps.
Google is able to spot the precise location of any mobile phone, so your website will be suggested for searchers in your vicinity. Think of it as a business Tinder. Get started by claiming “Google My Business” page and set up an online shop. Make sure your Phone, Address and Phone number is consistent throughout your website.

Pro tip:
Add testimonials to your photography website. It’s not only super useful to build the trust of potential clients, it will also provide searchable text information about your services to Google.

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